Founded in New York in 2012, A24 has built up a reputation as the leading distributor of arthouse and cult films throughout its existence. Over the course of the last 14 years, they’ve gotten some of the greatest modern movies out into the world. But it’s one thing for a movie to be great, and another thing altogether for it to approach perfection. Remarkably, several of A24’s outings are practically perfect in every imaginable way.
Ranging from epic dramas like The Brutalist to sci-fi dramedies like Everything Everywhere All At Once, the most perfect A24 films are ideal displays of why the studio has built up the niche that it has. It’s gotten to a point where A24 itself has a cult following, something unseen with virtually any other movie studio. That’s just how good their best movies are.
10
‘The Brutalist’ (2024)
When people watch a classic epic from the ’60s or ’70s and think “they don’t make ’em like that anymore,” The Brutalist proves them wrong. It’s one of the most perfect movies released since 2020, a rousing portrayal of the immigrant experience and complex deconstruction of the American Dream. It was the first film shot in VistaVision since 1961, and that’s just one of the many reasons why Brady Corbet‘s magnum opus is one of the most ambitious movies of the 2020s so far.
Visually stunning, impeccably written, and full of emotionally stirring performances (including Adrien Brody‘s Oscar-winning leading turn), The Brutalist is irresistibly fascinating throughout every second of its 215-minute runtime, which includes a 15-minute intermission. It can come across as a little pretentious in some spots, but it nevertheless is a towering character study whose measly $9.6 million dollar budget produced a film that consistently feels infinitely more expensive.
9
‘The Last Black Man in San Francisco’ (2019)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco is not only one of A24’s most underrated movies, but also one of the most underrated movies of the 2010s in general. Following a young man searching for home in the changing city that seems to have left him behind, this drama was Joe Talbot‘s impressive directing debut. Starring Jimmie Fails, who co-penned the script based on his own life, it’s one of the most tender and moving dramas that A24 has ever distributed.
With gorgeous camerawork and a powerfully indie sense of pacing, Talbot makes San Francisco feel entirely like its own character, something essential to this tale about displacement and the power of stories. It’s a slow-burning, quirky, and often quite eccentric film, but those eccentricities always play in its favor. It’s a must-see for fans of independent Hollywood dramas.
8
‘Close’ (2022)
It’s not just American movies that A24 distributes; and as far as their international offerings go, it doesn’t get much better than the Belgian-French-Dutch co-production Close. Directed by Lukas Dhont, it’s a coming-of-age drama focused on the intense friendship between two teenage boys, which suddenly gets disrupted after their schoolmates notice their intimacy.
Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, this is far and away one of the greatest and most emotionally stirring coming-of-age films of the 2020s. It’s a tender and devastatingly poignant masterpiece. By never explicitly placing the main characters’ sexuality inside a box, Dhont instead explores themes of male emotional intimacy that make the ending hit like a speeding truck.
7
‘Past Lives’ (2023)
Past Lives, Celine Song‘s feature directorial debut, is by no means your typical romantic drama. In a regular romance film, you’d get an idealized tale of lovers reconnected by fate, an evil villain standing in their way, and their love ultimately triumphing as they part together into the sunset. But that’s not real life, and that’s not what Song is interested in. Instead, Past Lives is a tale of exchanged glances, paths not taken, and the “what if”s that define our everyday lives.
It’s one of the best romance movies directed by women, executed with a beautiful female gaze that feels absolutely essential to the story. Marvelous performances, beautiful visuals, and an ending capable of tearing through the heart of even the coldest of viewers all make this a modern romance masterpiece, one bound to go down in history as one of A24’s most memorable outings.
6
‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)
By the time he made his sophomore directing effort, Robert Eggers was already well-established as one of the most exciting new voices in Hollywood horror, but it was The Lighthouse that really enshrined him in that pillar. Surreal, bizarre, darkly comedic, and full of homoerotic undertones, it remains the most complex movie in Eggers’ filmography.
It’s also one of the most perfect movies of the last 10 years, with some striking black-and-white visuals and a pair of flawless lead performances by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe. It’s undoubtedly one of A24’s most mind-bending films, but for those who are into horror that forces them to put their noodle to use, it’s a must-see. Brilliantly filmed and deceivingly smart, it’s one of the best horror movies of the last few years.
5
‘First Reformed’ (2017)
Though best-known for his work as one of the most legendary screenwriters in Hollywood history, Paul Schrader has also sat on the director’s chair on a few noteworthy occasions—few more noteworthy than First Reformed. Starring Ethan Hawke, who delivers one of the most underappreciated performances of any indie film of the 2010s, this subtle psychological thriller is Schrader’s best work as a director since Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.
It’s a dark existentialist film about a man going through a spiritual crisis, dealing with themes of environmental collapse in ways that are as hauntingly beautiful as they are existential-dread-inducing. It’s visually striking, delicately constructed, and masterfully slow-burning, its emotional and intellectual effects creeping up on you until they envelop your way of seeing the world forever.
4
‘The Zone of Interest’ (2023)
There are many war movies that lend themselves a little too well to criticism, due to the way in which they seem to romanticize or glamorize the concept of war. Not Jonathan Glazer‘s The Zone of Interest. There aren’t very many movies that are boring and mundane by design, but this one is, and the effect is absolutely chilling. This is more than just a Holocaust film, it’s the most effective study of the banality of evil ever committed to celluloid.
That’s what makes The Zone of Interest one of the most disturbing movies without extreme violence. All of the horrors happen offscreen (with some of the most powerful sound design of any movie of the 2020s thus far), as the characters go about their daily lives as usual. It’s a technically masterful, emotionally devastating, intellectually fascinating masterpiece that all fans of arthouse war cinema should check out at least once in their lives.
3
‘Moonlight’ (2016)
Barry Jenkins‘ Moonlight became the first film ever to win the Best Picture Academy Award with a queer story at its center, and deservedly so. It’s an emotionally stirring, soul-moving triptych that explores themes of identity, sexuality, and Black masculinity in ways as tender as they are loving. This isn’t one of those exploitative queer misery films that have kept queer cinema from reaching its full potential all these years.
For that reason and many more, Moonlight is one of the most perfect coming-of-age movies not just of the 21st century, but of all time. It was the first film distributed by A24 ever to become a Best Picture recipient, and it isn’t hard to see why. The visuals, the music, the character writing, the dialogue, the acting—it’s all absolutely flawless, adding up to one of the most emotional movies in A24’s entire catalog.
2
‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ (2022)
Winner of a whopping seven Academy Awards and A24’s second-highest-grossing movie of all time, Everything Everywhere All At Once may be one of the most chaotic movies ever made, but it’s also one of the most creative sci-fi films of the 21st century. On paper, everything about this massively ambitious tale of family, love, parenthood, and aging seems like it shouldn’t work. But somehow, it all does.
Everything Everywhere is funny, original, fresh, moving, and philosophically complex all in equal measure and at the same time. It became the second (and so far, latest) film ever to earn A24 a Best Picture Oscar, and very deservedly so. It’s a blast of fun from start to finish, but always driven mainly by its deeply compelling characters and thematically nuanced narrative. Martial arts films don’t get much better than this.
1
‘Aftersun’ (2022)
Charlotte Wells‘ Aftersun is one of the most perfect movies of the last seven years, but it’s also so much more than that. It’s a tear-jerking, irresistibly beautiful father-daughter story like no other. Largely autobiographical (which is perhaps why its emotional power is so tremendously effective), it’s a slow-burning slice-of-life drama that definitely won’t appeal to all cinematic palates; but all those who love arthouse cinema that takes its time and lets its characters breathe ought to check this one out.
Aftersun is about as close as an indie drama can possibly come to true perfection. Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio‘s chemistry is off the charts, and coupled with Wells’ gorgeously intimate direction and writing, that makes for a story that’s shockingly emotional despite its apparent simplicity. It’s an absolutely depressing film that’s bound to break the heart of anyone who watches it, that’s for sure; but it’s also such an impressive artistic achievement that every cinephile should watch it at least once.
